This
McCord Report condenses a lifelong effort to identify glitches in
thinking which have kept humans at war within and among ourselves. As
it turns out we're mainly confused by our own intricate language.
Semantic quarrels have distracted us concerning choices of words and
their proper definition; which supposedly determines dispositive
truths. In this verbal fray people easily forget that our best thinking
is often conducted beyond words--in
moments of reflection when one calls upon sources of common sense
naturally available among our higher
faculties of pure reason and understanding. This natural savvy is soon
drowned out though--as we resume the habit of talking too much: to
ourselves and others.
Ordinary language is a marvelously practical tool for organizing personal thoughts--pointing beyond words toward obvious truths already available in nature for rational observation through those higher faculties. Folks get hung up though on the hypnotic spell words themselves weave; and even fancy that language imparts everything we need to know. They thereby neglect the chance to activate those higher abilities to think beyond language. Humanity ends up consequently as hostage to tawdry disputes about the meaning of words--like the World War currently festering between clashing fundamentalist beliefs. We all find ourselves on a crazy carousel with troubled children shouting accusations of evil at one another. That consuming term demands dramatic reconsideration; along with another overloaded word--God--which fussing factions define differently.
These religious disputes preoccupy devotees with imaginary fantasy worlds--verbally comprised of mythological conjecture and belief--amounting to elaborate opinions about what is going on in reality external to language. Believers thereby lose track of the real world; which is by contrast described simply as self-evident in America's sacred document: THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. It thereupon refers to the obvious world patterned by enigmatic nature, and Nature's God: a term that eludes precise definition by any faction. The mighty Declaration thereby employs flexibly a more open-ended terminology--devised by the ancients--which invites realistic rationality (with and beyond language). The modern world has grown out of this ancient methodology; which has been largely forgotten as a source of information. The old inclusive idealism still challenges us, nevertheless, to discern subtle signs of divine justice--dispensed by Natural Law--running through every delight and disaster. People can indeed sense that justice operating through our own suffering--if we're tough-minded enough to stop whining and pursue happiness anyway, beyond misfortune--toward the Promised Life projected by ancient peacemakers like Plato and Jesus.
I therefore suggest that this ancient idealism can guide humanity through current rumors of war. It can be brought down to earth--as imminently practical--and the most concretely realistic description attainable of what is going on around us. The old methodology furthermore fostered a classically liberal tradition which flowered in the founding of this nation as the hope of a troubled world. Scholar Edmund Wilson traced the tradition through great rebellions--TO THE FINLAND STATION--and beyond to the "highest phase" of revolution, which he called Renaissance. My conservative impulse in the ensuing Report is to preserve the old tradition; and help cherish it toward fruition.
Ordinary language is a marvelously practical tool for organizing personal thoughts--pointing beyond words toward obvious truths already available in nature for rational observation through those higher faculties. Folks get hung up though on the hypnotic spell words themselves weave; and even fancy that language imparts everything we need to know. They thereby neglect the chance to activate those higher abilities to think beyond language. Humanity ends up consequently as hostage to tawdry disputes about the meaning of words--like the World War currently festering between clashing fundamentalist beliefs. We all find ourselves on a crazy carousel with troubled children shouting accusations of evil at one another. That consuming term demands dramatic reconsideration; along with another overloaded word--God--which fussing factions define differently.
These religious disputes preoccupy devotees with imaginary fantasy worlds--verbally comprised of mythological conjecture and belief--amounting to elaborate opinions about what is going on in reality external to language. Believers thereby lose track of the real world; which is by contrast described simply as self-evident in America's sacred document: THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. It thereupon refers to the obvious world patterned by enigmatic nature, and Nature's God: a term that eludes precise definition by any faction. The mighty Declaration thereby employs flexibly a more open-ended terminology--devised by the ancients--which invites realistic rationality (with and beyond language). The modern world has grown out of this ancient methodology; which has been largely forgotten as a source of information. The old inclusive idealism still challenges us, nevertheless, to discern subtle signs of divine justice--dispensed by Natural Law--running through every delight and disaster. People can indeed sense that justice operating through our own suffering--if we're tough-minded enough to stop whining and pursue happiness anyway, beyond misfortune--toward the Promised Life projected by ancient peacemakers like Plato and Jesus.
I therefore suggest that this ancient idealism can guide humanity through current rumors of war. It can be brought down to earth--as imminently practical--and the most concretely realistic description attainable of what is going on around us. The old methodology furthermore fostered a classically liberal tradition which flowered in the founding of this nation as the hope of a troubled world. Scholar Edmund Wilson traced the tradition through great rebellions--TO THE FINLAND STATION--and beyond to the "highest phase" of revolution, which he called Renaissance. My conservative impulse in the ensuing Report is to preserve the old tradition; and help cherish it toward fruition.
Surging
Fundamentalists: A Defensive Rationale
